Gamasutra has word from Blizzard's Frank Pierce, who says that their upcoming Diablo III may cannibalize World of Warcraft before the release of Titan, their next MMORPG. "It's hard to say. I think even a shorter-term concern is whether or not we might see cannibalization of WoW players from Diablo III when we launch it, because it's a similar type of experience. Not exactly similar, but it's that RPG feel," he tells them in response to a question about Titan cutting into WoW. "For us, I think it's really important that we recognize that somewhere, sometime it's likely that someone is going to cannibalize World of Warcraft players. So it's better we cannibalize them ourselves than let someone else do that, because if we cannibalize them ourselves, they're still a Blizzard customer."

Tumbler wrote on Mar 21, 2011, 11:21:That is an odd comment...based on diablo and diablo 2 I don't see a lot of crossover. Did torchlight suck players away from WoW?

Torchlight wasn't made by Blizzard. People are loyal to brands. It's like that line in Tommy Boy: Guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box 'cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty inside. I know there are people who buy nothing but Madden or Final Fantasy games because that is what they are loyal to.